​Death of college student in Georgia jail ruled homicide

The death of a college student in a Georgia jail has been ruled a homicide. The 22-year-old died from several blunt-force injuries to the head and upper body, according to the county coroner. The student was found dead in restraints on New Year's Day.

Matthew Ajibade's cause
of death “is listed as blunt force trauma, which was really a
combination of several things that were enumerated in his autopsy
report by the GBI," Chatham County coroner Dr. Bill
Wessinger said.

He said he based his conclusion on the results of an autopsy by
the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), which declined to make
its report public.

Wessinger cited "abrasions, lacerations, skin injuries about
the head and some other areas of the body. There was some small
amount of blood inside the skull case."

However, the coroner stressed “that homicide does not
necessarily mean murder. It can be, but it's death at the hands
of another person,” the Savannah Morning News reported.

Ajibade's family learned of the cause of death from the death
certificate – but not until a photo of it showed up on social
media, according to their attorney, Mark O'Mara.

"It's really disgusting to me," O'Mara told AP.
"They owe anybody the common decency of letting them know
first how their son died." The family was completely unaware
that a death certificate had been filed, he added.

Last month, nine deputies were fired in connection with Ajibade's
death. According to Chatham County Sheriff Al St. Lawrence, the
terminations were based on the results of an internal
investigation, as well as one by the GBI.

Sheriff's department spokesperson Gena Bilbo said the deputies
were let go for multiple reasons, including policy violations,
not being forthcoming in the investigation, and standing by and
not doing what they should have done.

Although the sheriff did not release any findings from the
investigations, a February 9 memo was issued reminding deputies
that they were prohibited from using stun guns on detainees
already in restraints.

The 22-year-old Nigerian student, who suffered from bipolar
disorder, was arrested following a call about a domestic
disturbance. When officers arrived, they found Ajibade holding
his girlfriend under a blanket, according to an incident report.

When the woman was uncovered, they noticed the woman's “face
was bruised, and her nose was bleeding.”

Ajibade refused to release the woman when ordered to do so,
police said. When officers tried to arrest him, he “resisted
apprehension in a violent manner.”

According to O'Mara, Ajibade was having a manic episode at the
time. He said the girlfriend gave officers Ajibade's medication,
and was told that he would be taken to the hospital. Instead, he
was taken to jail.

“It seems he got no medical attention. The only thing he got
was restraint," O'Mara said.

Once at the jail, sheriff's officials say the student was placed
in a restraining chair in an isolation cell after becoming
physically aggressive during booking and injuring three deputies.
The department said that one deputy suffered a concussion and
broken nose.

Deputies said they conducted checks on Ajibade, and that he was
found unresponsive during the second check. CPR was administered
by the jail's medical staff, and a defibrillator was used – both
unsuccessfully.

The Chatham County jail said in May that on-site personnel will
now be notified immediately if someone who needs medication is
booked into the system.